Seasons & episodes

It’s the grand final for the contestants and after seven tough weeks the three finalists face their biggest challenge yet – baking for The Great British Bake Off’s street party. They will be baking for judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, but also friends, family and former Bake Off contestants. Our finalists will reach new height of baking. They will be making a selection of petits fours and puff pastry, a first for The Great British Bake Off. They also be baking mille-feuille, mini Victoria sponges, strawberry and cream meringue nests and miniature strawberry and rhubarb cheesecakes. Who will be crowned as Britain’s best amateur baker on Great British Bake Off 2011? If sonly it could be all of of them…

The ultimate baking masterclass with The Great British Bake Off judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood. For the first time ever, Mary and Paul get behind the workstations and bake. Revisiting the technical challenges from the series, this programme, in a step-by-step guide, demonstrates all tips and tricks you need to know at home to get a perfect result every time. First in a two-part series, this programme features how to bake Mary's take on a traditional British cake - a coffee and walnut Battenberg, her classic tarte au citron with a deliciously sharp lemon filling, Paul's traditional Italian flatbread, focaccia and Mary's brandy snaps.

The ultimate baking masterclass with The Great British Bake Off judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood. Mary and Paul get behind the workstations and bake. The programme revisits the technical challenges from the series as Mary and Paul guide you through challenges faced by the bakers in this year's Bake Off. In a step-by-step guide they demonstrate all tips and secrets you need at home get achieve a perfect bake every time. The masterclass features Paul's luxury pork pies, filled with the perfect combination of pork loin and a quail's egg, and Mary's chocolate roulade recipe where Mary will show you how to get the perfect roll every time. Plus Paul's traditional iced fingers and Mary's sachertorte.

In 2010, talented baking enthusiasts from all over Britain came together to compete in the first ever Great British Bake Off. Over six challenging weeks 10 bakers battled it out until finally a winner was crowned. One year later, this programme reflects on the highlights from series one. Catching up with the bakers to hear the highs and lows of their journey, where they are now and how The Great British Bake Off changed their lives. With judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, who give their own personal accounts and memories from the series.

S3 · E1Cakes 2012-08-14 · 60 min＋

Signature Challenge: Upside-down Cake. Showstopper Challenge: A cake, when sliced reveals a hidden design. Technical Challenge: Rum Babas.

S3 · E2Bread 2012-08-21 · 60 min＋

Signature Challenge: 24 Flatbreads. Showstopper Challenge: 12 sweet and 12 savoury Bagels. Technical Challenge: Eight-strand plaited loaf.

S3 · E3Tarts 2012-08-28 · 60 min＋

Things are hotting up in the Bake Off tent as the remaining ten bakers do their best to wow Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry with some unusual flavour combinations for their tartes tatin.

S3 · E4Desserts 2012-09-04 · 60 min＋

Amateur bakers have their skills tested to the limit. The bakers face three challenges, all designed for a sweet tooth, including a mainstay of French baking - the creme caramel.

S3 · E5Pies 2012-09-11 · 60 min＋

The bakers turn their attention to cooking perfect pies.

S3 · E6Puddings 2012-09-18 · 60 min＋

The bakers are challenged to make two types of sponge puddings, take on a difficult Mary Berry recipe, and deliver a showstopping strudel.

S3 · E7Sweet Dough 2012-09-25 · 60 min＋

The bakers take on three sweet dough challenges.

S3 · E8Biscuits 2012-10-02 · 60 min＋

The remaining bakers face a biscuit based quarter-final.

S3 · E9Patisserie 2012-10-09 · 60 min＋

The bakers seeking a place in the final have to frantically work against the clock to deliver petits fours to Paul and Mary's exacting standards.

S3 · E10The Final 2012-10-16 · 60 min＋

A year after taking part, we catch up with the bakers from series 2 of The Great British Bake Off. What was it really like to compete in the tent, be judged by Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, and comforted by Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins? And how has their shared love of baking and appearing on the series changed their lives?

S3 · E11Masterclass 2012-10-22 · 60 min＋

Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry show how to tackle treacle tarts and rum babas.

S3 · E12Revisited 2012-10-23 · 60 min＋

A chance to catch up with the bakers from series 2 of The Great British Bake Off.

S3 · E13Masterclass 2012-10-24 · 60 min＋

Recipes include the queen of puddings, chocolate tea cakes and jam doughnuts.

S3 · E14Masterclass 2012-10-25 · 60 min＋

Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood show which signature bakes they would have chosen to make.

The Bake Off returns and for the first time ever, the tent welcomes a baker's dozen to do battle. Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins coax them through their baking trials, all the while under the scrutiny of the inimitable judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood. With a range of baking styles and personalities, the Bake Off tent is packed with the best amateur bakers from around the country; from space engineer to student, teacher to dentist, psychologist to carpenter. But after ten weeks of whisking, crimping and piping, only one can emerge victorious. This time, nobody is safe because Mary and Paul may decide to lose not one but two bakers at any time. The judges set the signature challenges as true home baker staples so that they can immediately see the bakers' personalities and their range of skills and ideas, setting them apart from each other. The first challenge is a sandwich cake. While this might seem simple, there is a difficult choice to be made between going for the classic or being experimental. Something tried and tested might not stand out, but going for ambitious flavours and ideas could miss the mark. Mary's first technical challenge is for angel food cake, which is not the bakers' idea of heaven as they attempt to follow the bare bones of the recipe, which proves to be a recipe for disaster for some. The showstopper explores all things chocolate, and is their final chance to secure their place in the Bake Off and save them from being the first to leave the tent.

One week down and the remaining 12 bakers have 9 weeks and 27 gruelling challenges to get through before they can be crowned Winner of the Great British Bake Off. But having survived cake, now they battle bread. Knowing that Paul will be watching their every move and prove, they must bake 36 perfectly thin and crispy signature bread sticks, a technically tricky English muffin, and the most outrageous showstopping loaves of bread ever seen on television... from a Christmas wreath to a proud peacock and a psychic octopus. As the bakers try to perfect their breakfast muffins, we explore their rise in popularity in Georgian England, initially distributed by a network of muffin men, now immortalised in the famous nursery rhyme. Mel and Sue try to help but instead leave chaos in their wake, as Mary and Paul use the challenges to find out what type of bakers they are and exactly how far they can push their baking skills. They are looking for real talent and natural instinct, creativity and baking brilliance. At any time, two bakers might be asked to leave, making this year tougher than ever before... nobody is safe.

It's week three, and the heat in the kitchen is already too much for some, as the remaining 11 bakers get ready to deal with desserts. Mary and Paul are upping the ante. Having survived cake and bread, this is the first week we see the bakers having to multi-task across several different baking skills at the same time; a signature trifle combining biscuit, cake, jelly or custard in perfectly distinct layers; a technically difficult task of making floating islands, which result in various forms of unrecognisable landmass by the end of the bake and a showstopper that pulls out all the stops, getting the bakers to juggle 24 petit fours that the judges might finally deem acceptable. They are taking no prisoners, and for the first time ever, there's a baking burglary in the Bake Off tent and it becomes a crime scene. Mel explores the origins of the trifle and discovers how it was transformed in the Georgian era from an elitist dessert for the aristocracy to a dish that was accessible to the masses.

It's week four in the tent and the baking is getting serious, as the remaining bakers put on their pinnies to pimp up pies and tarts. From the country's oldest known cookbook, we discover the almost 700 year old history of the English custard tart. It might once have been popular at the decadent court of King Richard II but it is now a technical challenge in the Bake Off tent, one which causes more than the intended wobble for the bakers. Starting with what should be a home baker staple, their signature double-crusted fruit pies present a challenge to even the most experienced bakers, let alone the one baker who has a deep-hatred of all things fruit, and the showstopper sorts the bakers from the boys, as they set about making a filo pie centrepiece. Mel and Sue come to their aid as the bakers' nerves are stretched tighter than the filo pastry they are making from scratch.

Almost halfway through the Bake Off and the remaining eight bakers are faced with biscuits and traybakes. First up, a Signature Challenge that requires them to do something apparently simple - produce their favourite traybake. The bakers offer Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood their twists on everything from bakewells to banoffees and brownies. Next they face the thinnest Technical Challenge ever devised on Bake Off - the French classic tuiles, biscuits formed into fragile rolls and decorated with delicate designs of piped chocolate. And finally, a Showstopper of epic proportions as the bakers make 'biscuit towers'. Mel and Sue follow the trail of biscuit crumbs as the bakers produce architectural feats inspired by everything from ancient Japanese civilization to one of time travel's most feared enemies. Meanwhile, we discover how the Tottenham Cake, a pink, iced traybake produced by the Quakers of North London, became a match day treat at White Hart Lane.

It is week six in the tent and time for sweet dough week - but will it prove bittersweet for the bakers? They kick off with a signature tea loaf. Most of the bakers choose to make something connected to home, so Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood are presented with everything from locally sourced loaves from Yorkshire and Oxford to Devonshire-inspired panettone and Welsh bara brith. Meanwhile we explore the history of the Sally Lunn, and the story of the torta negra - the well-travelled tea loaf that creates a taste of Wales in the middle of Patagonia. The bakers face Paul's most twisted Technical Challenge yet and a Showstopper that draws on all of Europe for inspiration, creating 36 sweet European buns - from Swedish cinnamon buns to German schnecken and French brioches. Over halfway through and the stakes are high... but will their dough rise too?